Instructions

This week, you will examine family and community involvement by exploring both the importance of program-family-community partnerships and the challenges that sometimes stand in the way of successful collaborations.

For this assignment, reflect on what you have learned about collaboration, a critical element of quality programming. Using research, you have previously conducted and/or that you will compile, develop a PowerPoint presentation that presents a well-thought-out plan for the building of staff and family relationships and communication.

Some things to think about include:

• How program-family-community collaboration is supported by Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory. The fact that not all families are actively involved in their young child’s program of early care and education should motivate staff to explore creative ways to reach out to hard-to-involve families. Brainstorm ways to reach these families.
• Early childhood programs should strive to create effective family-staff communication strategies, using as many forms of communication as possible, and adjust as necessary to meet the needs of each family. Devise some methods.

Your PowerPoint presentation should:

• Identify five benefits of program-family-community collaborations.
• Explain how families will be welcomed into the program, including program tours and orientation.
• Define how families will be informed of day-to-day happenings.
• Describe the structure and content of parent conferences.
• Identify how families will be informed of staff/family communications, volunteer opportunities, and more (remember to include online outreach).
• Present three challenges to family communication/involvement, and one possible solution to each.
• Define the role of the director in the formulation and implementation of this plan.

Incorporate appropriate animations, transitions, and graphics as well as “speaker notes” for each slide. The speaker notes may be comprised of brief paragraphs or bulleted lists.

Support your presentation with at least five scholarly resources. In addition to these specified resources, other appropriate scholarly resources may be included.

Length: 12-15 slides (with a separate reference slide)
Notes Length: 150-200 words for each slide